Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country

pqr · 6th February 2022, 22:43

Question: How do these products land here?

Answer: Cars figuring in the bottom 30 list may not always have to be a failed product. There are broadly four reasons for cars to figure in the bottom list.

Failed product
Niche - product or segment
Sunset phase - segment or product-life-cycle (PLC)
Production ramp-up phase

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-1.jpg

Honda Civic – 6 units

Honda has to shut down Greater Noida based plant where the CKD (completely-knocked-down) assembly facility was available. They could have started the CKD assembly line at their new Tapukara plant, but they didn’t as they were not having good demand. 1st generation (in India) Civic was successful initially, but was hit badly when petrol prices soared and Honda was not having a diesel engine.

Honda has to be blamed for Civic 2nd generation (India) failure. 1.8L petrol was good but was let down by lousy CVT and diesel power output was puny 120 PS, that too without AT option. Civic is the 5th best-selling car in the world in 2020, and discontinued forever in India.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-2.jpg

Honda CR-V – 13 units

All those Civic reasons are valid here. The irony is, Honda CRV was the 4th best-selling car in the world in 2020.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/slideshow/...ling-cars-2#18

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-3.jpg

Volkswagen Tiguan – 40 units

A restart of a new journey with petrol only engine. Nothing can be concluded.

Mahindra Verito EV – 49 units

Mahindra has been an EV pioneer in India, sad to see how miserably they wasted the last decade. For now, sales of Verito EV is coming from fleet operators only. In the early phase, it got the advantage of being alone and Government order flow. Poor range and no further enhancement means no further demand.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-4.jpg

Isuzu MUX – 53 Units

A restart of a new journey. In past, it never was able to cross 1,000 units in a year.

Skoda Kodiaq – 72 units

A restart of a new journey with petrol only engine. Nothing can be concluded.

Mahindra KUV 100 – 75 units

It was quite a first for Mahindra. First hatchback from scratch, first small petrol (G80) engine and small diesel engine (D75) too, a foot in the door - biggest body style segment, but then KUV 100 failed. KUV 100 as a product was ugly looking and on top of that, fuel efficiency was low due to large AC compressor and gearbox vibration in low ratios added to customer misery in initial days. It was a sales disaster, wonder why Mahindra is even continuing with such dismal sales in the BS6 era.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-5.jpg

Hyundai Kona – 121 units

First BEV crossover in India, but in reality, it’s just an i20 sized and shaped crossover with a cramped interior, asking for a high price. Compare its price with MG EZS, which is also part of this list, and reason becomes more apparent for such less volume.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-6.jpg

Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace - 137 units

Wondering why Volkswagen brought CBU (completely-built-unit) car with 60% customs duty and sold it at price near to current CKD Tiguan. It seems they were losing money hand over fist, moreover they had to offer ₹ 5 lakhs additional discount to clear the stock since late 2020. A quick estimate suggests that revenue loss could be around ₹ 4.5 lakhs per car due to high customs duty, or in other words, they suffered a total revenue loss of over ₹ 45 crores.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-7.jpg

Datsun GO (140 units)/Go+ (221 units)

All Datsun products in India are begging for final closure, but is Nissan India listening?

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-8.jpg

Force Gurkha – 190 units

Start of a new journey.

Jeep Wrangler – 211 units

As CBU, sales was negligible. CKD operation in India brought the price down by ₹ 10 lakhs, and sales reached a respectable 200+ level for a very niche product.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-9.jpg

Hyundai Elantra – 303 units

Facelift Elantra with steep price hike bombed in 2019. A slight price correction didn’t bring much respite either. Hyundai doesn’t have brand appeal to sell premium priced vehicles in India.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-10.jpg

Mahindra Alturas – 419 units

Well, the previous avatar sold by the original name of ‘Rexton’ did better than the rechristened new generation, incidentally, both the generation have similar shaped PLC graphs. It is intriguing to see how MG sold 3,823 Gloster, and Mahindra could not, even after undercutting Toyota Fortuner’s price.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-11.jpg

Toyota Vellfire – 478 units

Van wearing ₹ 90 lakhs ex-showroom price tag reached near 500 unit sales, with a mass-market-brand-badge, is a miracle. Exaggeration aside, it’s a wonderful product for personal mobility and loved by high net worth business clients.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-12.jpg

Toyota Camry – 500 units

Unlike Corolla, Camry was never a segment leader, but then those who love it, looks nowhere else. But then that customer segment is limited, and so is the sales.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-13.jpg

Citroen C5 Aircross – 624 units

Not a great start for Citroen in India even with a diesel powered SUV/Crossover. It’s an overpriced product.

Volkswagen T Roc – 1,000 units

Why Volkswagen brought CBU car with 60% customs duty and sold it at price much lower than CBU Skoda Karoq. At these prices, they must be losing money hand over fist. Quick estimates suggest that revenue loss could be around ₹ 2.7 lakhs per car with respect to locally produced Taigun with same engine. They lost revenue of over ₹ 54 crores by selling 2,000 units in India. Unlike Tiguan Allsapce (sold at massive discounts), T-Roc found customers, appreciating what it is – fun to drive crossover.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-14.jpg

Hyundai Tucson – 1,313 units

Hyundai never had a brand appeal to sell premium cars in India. A quick comparison with Jeep Compass sales says it all.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-15.jpg

Skoda Octavia – 1,416 units

What was Skoda India thinking when bringing a premium car without a sunroof and overpriced by at least ₹ 4 lakhs. Octavia 4th generation is selling at a discount, but still doing much better than only competitor - Hyundai Elantra.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-16.jpg

In long run, Octavia also became the second best-selling car in its segment, after Toyota Corolla.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-17.jpg

Ford Aspire – 1,502 units

(The rise and fall of Ford India | The most comprehensive study)https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/243141-rise-fall-ford-india-most-comprehensive-study.html

Mahindra Marazzo -1,516 units

(How Maruti cracked the Compact MPV code with the 2nd-gen Ertiga & XL6)https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/247158-how-maruti-cracked-compact-mpv-code-2nd-gen-ertiga-xl6.html

Nissan Kicks – 1,860

Indian Kicks is an imposter and rightly deserves where it is.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-18.jpg

Volkswagen Vento – 1,886 units

Time to hand over the baton to the next generation, due since 2016.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-19.jpg

Skoda Superb – 1,963 units

Skoda Superb outsold Volkswagen Vento in 2021, quite an achievement for a lone warrior with a petrol only engine.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-20.jpg

Tracing timeline - it is quite an achiever when others gave up (read it as Honda Accord).

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-21.jpg

MG Astor – 2,143 units

Start of a new journey in semiconductor pandemic, so, nothing can be concluded.

Toyota Yaris – 2,235

Indian customers cannot be taken for a ride with the wrong product at the wrong price. This also proves that not everything can sell with a mighty ‘T’ badge either.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-22.jpg

MG EZS – 2,798 units

It is a value for money EV at that price point, so is the respectable sales of 200 units a month.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-23.jpg

Renault Duster – 2,870 units

A pioneer lost in oblivion.

Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country-24.jpg

wildsdi5530 · 7th February 2022, 08:37

In this list, where out of 16 entries where reasons are given, 6 are internationally best selling cars. Not best selling cars in any particular region like the Maruti 800.
The only reason that a car which majority will think is very good but will not appeal to one set is if the set receives an inferior variant or if it's priced beyond rationality.

How much will it cost Honda to bring in a few more variants? Maybe a small govt fee? Some shipping charges? A few hours extra training? But they want to customise the car for India, as they see it.

And the pricing, 27L and 40L for cars that were costing 12 -18L a few years back? Are your cars Maturing like fine wine? Or have you built up a cult following of people who don't mind paying whatever you ask? And don't talk about input costs, taxes, royalty, bribes, etc. All these should have been factored into your calculations when you entered the market.

Dr.AD · 8th February 2022, 10:38

Very interesting analysis! Thank you for sharing.

However, I am not sure I understood why some cars are here in the list. For example, take look at below entries and the comments from your list:

Quote:

Originally Posted by pqr

Skoda Octavia – 1,416 units

Octavia 4th generation is selling at a discount, but still doing much better than only competitor - Hyundai Elantra.

In long run, Octavia also became the second best-selling car in its segment, after Toyota Corolla.

Skoda Superb – 1,963 units

Skoda Superb outsold Volkswagen Vento in 2021, quite an achievement for a lone warrior with a petrol only engine.

Tracing timeline - it is quite an achiever when others gave up (read it as Honda Accord).

From these numbers (compared to others in that segment) and as your comments say, these cars are actually quite successful. Why are they in the "failed" list? Are you saying in spite of these good numbers they are still in the bottom 30 selling cars in India? That is hard to believe because there are many other niche products which sell much lower.

In fact, your comments say Skoda Superb is a "lone warrior" in that segment. That means it is actually doing better than all others in the segment, and is not a failed product. And if this segment leader has poorest sales numbers, then all other cars in that segment (the entire segment) should also figure in this list with even poorer sales numbers. But I do not see them here.

Am I am missing something?

Also, the title says "Bottom 30 – poorest sales performers of the country", but it does not include luxury cars which sell in very low numbers. So is this restricted to some specific price bracket? I see some CBU cars in this list too. So that is not a criterion either. So why leave out the other CBUs with even lower sell?

Maybe if you could please state the list criteria at the beginning, that would help.

But regardless, this is a great analysis and an interesting read. Thanks again for sharing!

Kochikaran · 8th February 2022, 10:52

Honda Civic is an excellent car launched at the wrong time in the wrong country with wrong pricing and an undertuned engine. That is why it failed.

AirbusCapt · 8th February 2022, 10:56

If you see, all the cars mentioned in this undesirable list are either overpriced, low on specs, have severe service issues/quality issues or are plain unexciting to own.
I feel we Indians appreciate value for money and unless a car can give you that, it will feature in such lists.

Raghu M · 8th February 2022, 11:37

I don't think the list is quite right. You have cars on the list that have done reasonably well comparing YoY too. The 4 reasons given are not comprehensive enough. Bring in a killer product from Datsun and price it rightly, I don't think it will quite succeed. Reason - non existent brand in India. You can't label cars as failures because they are in the niche segment. They are in the segment for a reason. I don't expect Toyota Vellfire to put the sales chart on fire, neither does Toyota. They are strategically placed products by companies.

RaghavEvoX · 8th February 2022, 11:55

I think all the best selling cars worldwide which did poorly in India, are all CKD units.
If they had manufactured them locally and sold at a competitive price, they would have definitely succeeded.
They could have taken a piece of lesson from Creta & Innova.

Hayek · 8th February 2022, 12:00

Actually, the real problem is insane taxes and the lack of purchasing power. As @pqr mentioned, the net revenue VW made on the Allspace at full price was ₹ 13.3 l - for folks like me who got a ₹ 4 l discount, they probably netted just about ₹10.5 l. Even at full price, they realised just USD 18 k per car vs USD 28 k that they sell the same car for in the USA. So buying a Tiguan was a steal - except that the steal was for the GOI in terms of the ₹20 l of taxes they got on the imported car.

Very clearly VW’s strategy through 2020 and 2021 was invest money in selling cars cheap to keep the loyal dealers going until the India 2.0 cars could be launched. Now to wait and see what the Taigun, Virtus, Kushaq and Slavia do in 2022.

Agree with Dr AD that comparing cars from different price ranges makes no sense - to my mind, the T Roc, Octavia, and Superb have clearly done what they were meant to do. The Allspace failed because of bad timing around Covid - but the Kodiaq and the Tiguan seem to be well placed to succeed on their terms in 2022

ShreyG · 8th February 2022, 12:25

Quite an interesting list here. The buckets maintained for them also make sense.

However, I am a bit unsure as to why the Citroen would essentially be a failed product? I think they have a total of 11 dealerships in India and are a relatively unknown brand. The USP for Citroen has generally been their amazing ride quality, irrespective of the road. It would not exactly set the road on fire quite like the Compass. 3 digits do seem low but for an unknown brand with a single product in excess of INR 35 lakhs, seems like they got a foot in the door.

On a separate note, I am curious to know the reason for calling the Nissan Kicks an imposter. Did I miss some trick here?

sid3091 · 8th February 2022, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayek

Agree with Dr AD that comparing cars from different price ranges makes no sense - to my mind, the T Roc, Octavia, and Superb have clearly done what they were meant to do. The Allspace failed because of bad timing around Covid - but the Kodiaq and the Tiguan seem to be well placed to succeed on their terms in 2022

If the kushaq/taigun are the best of what VAG has to offer us in the 20-25l range then I'm bitterly disappointed. Barring the XUV700 is there anything with sorted driving dynamics and good features in this range?

Dead_Pedal · 8th February 2022, 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShreyG

On a separate note, I am curious to know the reason for calling the Nissan Kicks an imposter. Did I miss some trick here?

The Indian kicks is based on the Duster platform while the International Kicks is based on the Nissan V platform. The International Kicks has a significantly different interior. The Indian Kicks is just a Duster trying to con people.

ShreyG · 8th February 2022, 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead_Pedal

The Indian kicks is based on the Duster platform while the International Kicks is based on the Nissan V platform. The International Kicks has a significantly different interior. The Indian Kicks is just a Duster trying to con people.

Oh yeah. In that sense true (Toyota now should be very scared

). But still found it to be quite competitive package overall. The looks of the Duster never actually struck a chord with me. Thanks for the clarification.

digitalnirvana · 8th February 2022, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead_Pedal

The Indian kicks is based on the Duster platform while the International Kicks is based on the Nissan V platform. The International Kicks has a significantly different interior. The Indian Kicks is just a Duster trying to con people.

Is that not the Kaptur vs Captur fiasco? I didn't know Nissan tried the same as well!

sanchari · 8th February 2022, 12:49

I am not sure whether adding products which are above Rs 35-40 lakhs make sense, as the volumes are anyway small. Most of them are CBUs or SKDs.

Maybe a better option would be to include products whose sales are below say less than 2-4% of the total sales volume in that segment, which may give better insighs.

eccentric · 8th February 2022, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by pqr

Nissan Kicks – 1,860

Indian Kicks is an imposter and rightly deserves where it is.

An imposter of what/whom? Could you elucidate in detail?

Meanwhile, intimating the owners of the Kicks so that they could express their credible views on this!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeganatu

...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla

...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead_Pedal

The Indian Kicks is just a Duster trying to con people.

Are you sure? Have you driven both these cars back-to-back? If so, explain the factors on how both these cars felt familiar and how Kicks tries to delude the people.

6th February 2022, 22:43	#1
pqr Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2021 Location: India Posts: 211 Thanked: 5,307 Times	Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country Question: How do these products land here? Answer: Cars figuring in the bottom 30 list may not always have to be a failed product. There are broadly four reasons for cars to figure in the bottom list. Failed product Niche - product or segment Sunset phase - segment or product-life-cycle (PLC) Production ramp-up phase Honda Civic – 6 units Honda has to shut down Greater Noida based plant where the CKD (completely-knocked-down) assembly facility was available. They could have started the CKD assembly line at their new Tapukara plant, but they didn’t as they were not having good demand. 1st generation (in India) Civic was successful initially, but was hit badly when petrol prices soared and Honda was not having a diesel engine. Honda has to be blamed for Civic 2nd generation (India) failure. 1.8L petrol was good but was let down by lousy CVT and diesel power output was puny 120 PS, that too without AT option. Civic is the 5th best-selling car in the world in 2020, and discontinued forever in India. Honda CR-V – 13 units All those Civic reasons are valid here. The irony is, Honda CRV was the 4th best-selling car in the world in 2020. https://www.autocar.co.uk/slideshow/...ling-cars-2#18 Volkswagen Tiguan – 40 units A restart of a new journey with petrol only engine. Nothing can be concluded. Mahindra Verito EV – 49 units Mahindra has been an EV pioneer in India, sad to see how miserably they wasted the last decade. For now, sales of Verito EV is coming from fleet operators only. In the early phase, it got the advantage of being alone and Government order flow. Poor range and no further enhancement means no further demand. Isuzu MUX – 53 Units A restart of a new journey. In past, it never was able to cross 1,000 units in a year. Skoda Kodiaq – 72 units A restart of a new journey with petrol only engine. Nothing can be concluded. Mahindra KUV 100 – 75 units It was quite a first for Mahindra. First hatchback from scratch, first small petrol (G80) engine and small diesel engine (D75) too, a foot in the door - biggest body style segment, but then KUV 100 failed. KUV 100 as a product was ugly looking and on top of that, fuel efficiency was low due to large AC compressor and gearbox vibration in low ratios added to customer misery in initial days. It was a sales disaster, wonder why Mahindra is even continuing with such dismal sales in the BS6 era. Hyundai Kona – 121 units First BEV crossover in India, but in reality, it’s just an i20 sized and shaped crossover with a cramped interior, asking for a high price. Compare its price with MG EZS, which is also part of this list, and reason becomes more apparent for such less volume. Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace - 137 units Wondering why Volkswagen brought CBU (completely-built-unit) car with 60% customs duty and sold it at price near to current CKD Tiguan. It seems they were losing money hand over fist, moreover they had to offer ₹ 5 lakhs additional discount to clear the stock since late 2020. A quick estimate suggests that revenue loss could be around ₹ 4.5 lakhs per car due to high customs duty, or in other words, they suffered a total revenue loss of over ₹ 45 crores. Datsun GO (140 units)/Go+ (221 units) All Datsun products in India are begging for final closure, but is Nissan India listening? Force Gurkha – 190 units Start of a new journey. Jeep Wrangler – 211 units As CBU, sales was negligible. CKD operation in India brought the price down by ₹ 10 lakhs, and sales reached a respectable 200+ level for a very niche product. Hyundai Elantra – 303 units Facelift Elantra with steep price hike bombed in 2019. A slight price correction didn’t bring much respite either. Hyundai doesn’t have brand appeal to sell premium priced vehicles in India. Mahindra Alturas – 419 units Well, the previous avatar sold by the original name of ‘Rexton’ did better than the rechristened new generation, incidentally, both the generation have similar shaped PLC graphs. It is intriguing to see how MG sold 3,823 Gloster, and Mahindra could not, even after undercutting Toyota Fortuner’s price. Toyota Vellfire – 478 units Van wearing ₹ 90 lakhs ex-showroom price tag reached near 500 unit sales, with a mass-market-brand-badge, is a miracle. Exaggeration aside, it’s a wonderful product for personal mobility and loved by high net worth business clients. Toyota Camry – 500 units Unlike Corolla, Camry was never a segment leader, but then those who love it, looks nowhere else. But then that customer segment is limited, and so is the sales. Citroen C5 Aircross – 624 units Not a great start for Citroen in India even with a diesel powered SUV/Crossover. It’s an overpriced product. Volkswagen T Roc – 1,000 units Why Volkswagen brought CBU car with 60% customs duty and sold it at price much lower than CBU Skoda Karoq. At these prices, they must be losing money hand over fist. Quick estimates suggest that revenue loss could be around ₹ 2.7 lakhs per car with respect to locally produced Taigun with same engine. They lost revenue of over ₹ 54 crores by selling 2,000 units in India. Unlike Tiguan Allsapce (sold at massive discounts), T-Roc found customers, appreciating what it is – fun to drive crossover. Hyundai Tucson – 1,313 units Hyundai never had a brand appeal to sell premium cars in India. A quick comparison with Jeep Compass sales says it all. Skoda Octavia – 1,416 units What was Skoda India thinking when bringing a premium car without a sunroof and overpriced by at least ₹ 4 lakhs. Octavia 4th generation is selling at a discount, but still doing much better than only competitor - Hyundai Elantra. In long run, Octavia also became the second best-selling car in its segment, after Toyota Corolla. Ford Aspire – 1,502 units (The rise and fall of Ford India \| The most comprehensive study)https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/243141-rise-fall-ford-india-most-comprehensive-study.html Mahindra Marazzo -1,516 units (How Maruti cracked the Compact MPV code with the 2nd-gen Ertiga & XL6)https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/247158-how-maruti-cracked-compact-mpv-code-2nd-gen-ertiga-xl6.html Nissan Kicks – 1,860 Indian Kicks is an imposter and rightly deserves where it is. Volkswagen Vento – 1,886 units Time to hand over the baton to the next generation, due since 2016. Skoda Superb – 1,963 units Skoda Superb outsold Volkswagen Vento in 2021, quite an achievement for a lone warrior with a petrol only engine. Tracing timeline - it is quite an achiever when others gave up (read it as Honda Accord). MG Astor – 2,143 units Start of a new journey in semiconductor pandemic, so, nothing can be concluded. Toyota Yaris – 2,235 Indian customers cannot be taken for a ride with the wrong product at the wrong price. This also proves that not everything can sell with a mighty ‘T’ badge either. MG EZS – 2,798 units It is a value for money EV at that price point, so is the respectable sales of 200 units a month. Renault Duster – 2,870 units A pioneer lost in oblivion.
	(91) Thanks

7th February 2022, 08:37	#2
wildsdi5530 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,451 Thanked: 2,060 Times	re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country In this list, where out of 16 entries where reasons are given, 6 are internationally best selling cars. Not best selling cars in any particular region like the Maruti 800. The only reason that a car which majority will think is very good but will not appeal to one set is if the set receives an inferior variant or if it's priced beyond rationality. How much will it cost Honda to bring in a few more variants? Maybe a small govt fee? Some shipping charges? A few hours extra training? But they want to customise the car for India, as they see it. And the pricing, 27L and 40L for cars that were costing 12 -18L a few years back? Are your cars Maturing like fine wine? Or have you built up a cult following of people who don't mind paying whatever you ask? And don't talk about input costs, taxes, royalty, bribes, etc. All these should have been factored into your calculations when you entered the market.
	(34) Thanks

8th February 2022, 10:52	#4
Kochikaran BHPian Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: Kochi Posts: 45 Thanked: 115 Times	re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country Honda Civic is an excellent car launched at the wrong time in the wrong country with wrong pricing and an undertuned engine. That is why it failed.
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8th February 2022, 10:56	#5
AirbusCapt BHPian Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 575 Thanked: 2,800 Times	re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country If you see, all the cars mentioned in this undesirable list are either overpriced, low on specs, have severe service issues/quality issues or are plain unexciting to own. I feel we Indians appreciate value for money and unless a car can give you that, it will feature in such lists.
	(3) Thanks

8th February 2022, 11:37	#6
Raghu M Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Hyderbad Posts: 1,047 Thanked: 3,688 Times	Re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country I don't think the list is quite right. You have cars on the list that have done reasonably well comparing YoY too. The 4 reasons given are not comprehensive enough. Bring in a killer product from Datsun and price it rightly, I don't think it will quite succeed. Reason - non existent brand in India. You can't label cars as failures because they are in the niche segment. They are in the segment for a reason. I don't expect Toyota Vellfire to put the sales chart on fire, neither does Toyota. They are strategically placed products by companies.
	(4) Thanks

8th February 2022, 11:55	#7
RaghavEvoX BHPian Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Chennai Posts: 175 Thanked: 1,049 Times	Re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country I think all the best selling cars worldwide which did poorly in India, are all CKD units. If they had manufactured them locally and sold at a competitive price, they would have definitely succeeded. They could have taken a piece of lesson from Creta & Innova.
	(1) Thanks

8th February 2022, 12:00	#8
Hayek Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,951 Thanked: 15,918 Times	Re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country Actually, the real problem is insane taxes and the lack of purchasing power. As @pqr mentioned, the net revenue VW made on the Allspace at full price was ₹ 13.3 l - for folks like me who got a ₹ 4 l discount, they probably netted just about ₹10.5 l. Even at full price, they realised just USD 18 k per car vs USD 28 k that they sell the same car for in the USA. So buying a Tiguan was a steal - except that the steal was for the GOI in terms of the ₹20 l of taxes they got on the imported car. Very clearly VW’s strategy through 2020 and 2021 was invest money in selling cars cheap to keep the loyal dealers going until the India 2.0 cars could be launched. Now to wait and see what the Taigun, Virtus, Kushaq and Slavia do in 2022. Agree with Dr AD that comparing cars from different price ranges makes no sense - to my mind, the T Roc, Octavia, and Superb have clearly done what they were meant to do. The Allspace failed because of bad timing around Covid - but the Kodiaq and the Tiguan seem to be well placed to succeed on their terms in 2022 Last edited by Hayek : 8th February 2022 at 12:03.
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8th February 2022, 12:25	#9
ShreyG BHPian Join Date: Oct 2021 Location: BLR / MOHALI Posts: 150 Thanked: 469 Times	Re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country Quite an interesting list here. The buckets maintained for them also make sense. However, I am a bit unsure as to why the Citroen would essentially be a failed product? I think they have a total of 11 dealerships in India and are a relatively unknown brand. The USP for Citroen has generally been their amazing ride quality, irrespective of the road. It would not exactly set the road on fire quite like the Compass. 3 digits do seem low but for an unknown brand with a single product in excess of INR 35 lakhs, seems like they got a foot in the door. On a separate note, I am curious to know the reason for calling the Nissan Kicks an imposter. Did I miss some trick here? Last edited by Turbanator : 8th February 2022 at 12:27.
	(3) Thanks

8th February 2022, 12:49	#14
sanchari BHPian Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Blr/Hyd Posts: 383 Thanked: 535 Times	Re: Bottom 30 Cars – Poorest sales performers of the country I am not sure whether adding products which are above Rs 35-40 lakhs make sense, as the volumes are anyway small. Most of them are CBUs or SKDs. Maybe a better option would be to include products whose sales are below say less than 2-4% of the total sales volume in that segment, which may give better insighs.
	() Thanks